Whiteland, Ind. Farmer Selected for Indy 500 Tradition

When the Indianapolis 500 winner pulls into Victory Circle next month, he'll be joined by his team owner and chief mechanic.

All will partake in the hallowed Speedway tradition of a victory drink from an ice-cold bottle of milk.

Joe Kelsay will hand-deliver two of those bottles — one each to the owner and mechanic — in Victory Circle, at the height of the celebration, with the whole racing world watching.

"You talk about a bucket list (item) that I never thought I'd be doing," said Kelsay, co-owner of Kelsay Farms in Whiteland, Ind. "What a cool thing."

Cool, for all kinds of reasons.

First, it's the Indy 500. Second, it's the historic 100th running of the Indy 500. And third, the milk tradition is a huge part of Indy 500 lore.

Kelsay will be at the center of it.

Kelsay was selected by the American Dairy Association of Indiana to be the Rookie Milk Man for this year's race. In that role, Kelsay, 39, will hand a bottle of milk to the winning team owner and chief mechanic in Victory Circle. Milk Lady Janet Dague of Kewanna will hand the bottle of milk to the winning driver.

Dague was last year's rookie. Next year, Kelsay will be the veteran and tasked with handing the bottle to the winning driver for the 101st running of the Indy 500.

But Kelsay is especially excited about this year's opportunity.

A longtime Indy 500 fan, he grew up attending races and listening to races and has a Hoosier's appreciation for the majesty of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.

Being center stage for the 100th running is something he never dreamed of.

"It's just amazing to be a part of it," he said. "It's going to be a really, really great life experience."

Kelsay won't be the first family member to take part in the milk tradition, which began after the 1936 race when Louis Meyer was famously photographed drinking a bottle of buttermilk after winning his third Indy 500.

Kelsay's father, Merrill Kelsay, was the Rookie Milk Man in 2006 and was the Milk Man in 2007. He handed the bottle to winning driver Dario Franchitti that year.

The night before the race, Joe Kelsay will have the milk and will be in charge of delivering it to the Speedway in a special cooler on race day, May 29.

At about Lap 165 of the 200-lap race, Joe Kelsay and Dague will make their way to Victory Circle with the coolers in tow. They will personally hand the bottles to the winners within moments of the car's arrival from Victory Lane.

Each quart bottle is a custom-made square design with a special engraving for the driver, owner and chief mechanic.

The milk will be anonymously sourced from an Indiana dairy farm. Indiana has more than 1,000 dairy farms, and the Milk Man tradition is designed to spotlight the state's dairy industry.

Joe Kelsay, who works in government affairs for Dow AgroSciences, is a former member of the National Dairy Association and has served as an advisory board member for the American Dairy Association of Indiana. Individuals who have served on the board are eligible to be chosen as Milk Man or, in Dague's case, Milk Lady.